In a few weeks the United Nations Special Mission to Iraq will be leaving the country forever.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, has been in the country for 22 years and was established shortly after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Mohammed al-Hassan, head of UNAMI, said UNAMI’s exit marks the beginning of a new chapter rooted in Iraq’s own future leadership. said earlier this weekWhen he gave the organization’s final briefing to the United Nations Security Council.
The Iraqi government has stated that having an organization on its territory whose purpose is to support and evaluate the country’s transition to democracy is no longer necessary.
Iraqi government in 2024 UN asked to close UNAMI – UN missions cannot operate without the consent of the host country – and Iraqi government spokesmen have repeatedly said they want a new relationship with the UN, based on more equal terms.
“These are the words that are used by the Iraqi government: ‘We want to be a normal country’,” Renad Mansour, director of the Iraq Initiative at the British think tank Chatham House, told the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper. Nationalrecently.
Over the summer UNAMI, which had about 700 employees, closed offices in the north of the country. By the end of this month, it was supposed to close its offices in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. The UN says UNAMI security forces from Nepal and Fiji are being sent home, buildings are being handed back to the Iraqi government and all facilities should be completely “dismantled” by next September.
Phased withdrawal of US forces
American troops will also leave Iraq by next September.
The planned departure follows a 2024 agreement between Iraq and the US, which states that US-led forces will leave the country through a phased withdrawal by September 2026.
Following the US invasion of Iraq, approximately 200,000 troops were deployed in the country. But by 2011 most people had left. Then in 2014, when the extremist “Islamic State” group took over parts of Iraq, about 1,500 U.S. troops returned to help Iraqis fight the group.
This summer, some of the approximately 2,500 U.S. troops still stationed in Iraq were redeployed to Syria or transferred to a base in the semi-autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani wrote in an op-ed, “Iraq today is not the country it was 20 years ago.” New York Post Last month. “This change marks the beginning of a new era.”
UNAMI, Iraq’s future without US troops
So what will that “new era” look like without UNAMI and the US military? And is his departure really a sign of a new, more sovereign Iraq free of international interference, which some locals have celebrated?
Veronica Ertl, head of the Jordan office of Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), told DW that this may be an overkill.
“Withdrawal is not really the end,” she says, “but rather a reassessment of international influence and, in particular, of US-Iraq relations.” “On the one hand, [this is] Seen as an important sign of moving away from the occupation and war, many Iraqi actors have also come to see the stabilization effect of these forces.”
For example, in October 2025, Iraq and the US agreed that all US forces should not leave; Between 250 and 350 are expected to serve as advisers and trainers at the US base in Iraqi Kurdistan.
This is because the region is more unstable than ever, Iraqi politicians, including al-Sudaini, have explained. The collapse of a longtime dictatorship in neighboring Syria has raised fears that the “Islamic State” group, which still has 3,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria, could use the security unrest there to regroup. The ongoing conflict between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, and Israel’s pursuit of Iran-backed militias also concerns Iraq.
There are several Iran-backed militias in Iraq, some of which exercise significant political and military power. Although Iran has mostly held back since the latest conflict began and has not taken overly aggressive action against the US or Israel, those groups fear they too could become targets for Israel.
ongoing security cooperation
“Some form of security cooperation will remain at the heart of bilateral [US-Iraq] relationship, even if only to protect against ongoing regional uncertainty,” wrote James Jeffrey, former US ambassador to Iraq. in an analysis For the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in September.
KAS expert Ertl expects continued military cooperation between Iraq and the US – the US State Department oversees two Defense Department-run entities under its ambassador’s purview – as well as the NATO mission in Iraq.
“At the same time, the Iraqi government also has a clear vision of moving beyond security by increasing economic cooperation, for example with US energy companies,” she explains.
As for UNAMI, its officials say they are transferring responsibilities in force united nations team He is based with them in Iraq. It includes representatives working in almost all areas, including child welfare, housing, human rights, immigration, mine clearing, heritage and the environment, as well as the World Health Organisation, the World Food Programme, and the International Monetary Fund.
As UNAMI’s al-Hassan emphasized during a panel on the topic Earlier this year in Iraqi Kurdistan, “UNAMI may be ending, but the United Nations is not leaving Iraq. Nor will Iraq leave the United Nations.”
Constant pressure from America
And American influence over Iraqi affairs is unlikely to diminish any time soon. In fact, in the last few months, the Trump administration seems to be emphasizing on exerting more influence on the Iraqi government.
For years, the Iraqi government has been trying to strike a delicate balance between the US and Iran. But recently, the US government has been increasing pressure to reduce Iranian influence on Iraq, especially with regard to Iran-backed militias.
In September, the US designated four of those militias as terrorist organizations and also imposed sanctions on what it says are companies linked to the militias. US politicians have also threatened to impose sanctions or disrupt Iraq’s state oil company, whose revenues are vital to the country’s economy and Iraq’s central bank.
But as KAS’s Ertl points out, even if Iraq wanted to, it would be difficult for it to completely move away from Iran.
“And even if the power of Iran-linked militias is curbed – a major challenge in itself – Tehran’s political, economic, religious and cultural influence in Iraq will not simply disappear,” she says. “This means that anything can be achieved through American pressure. The question is whether these limitations are recognized in the Trump administration’s approach.”
Edited by Jesse Wingard.